Time spent under examination

Examiners are asked to complete the examination and provide their reports within eight weeks (six weeks for oral examinations) of receiving the thesis. If they comply with this timetable and there are no problems, the entire process could be completed in approximately three months. In practice, however, it sometimes takes longer because examiners are busy people and may find it difficult to comply with the deadlines given. If you have not received advice on the progress of the examination after four months from the date of submission you should seek information from the HDR adviser.

Each examiner submits an independent report on the thesis. An examiner may ask that certain questions be put to the student and that the responses be considered by the examiner. The examiner will send the list of questions to the HDR adviser who will communicate these with you.

Your enrolment

Your enrolment will continue while the thesis is under examination. You will be enrolled by Deakin Research in a 0 load which, in addition to keeping your candidature active, enables you to have access to The Deakin University Library and IT services. There are no fees for 0 load. If you have to resubmit your thesis for a further examination, then you will be enrolled part-time while you work on this. International students will pay fees for this part-time enrolment.

Consideration of examiners' reports

The standard process for considering the examiners' reports is set out in the Higher Degrees by Research assessment procedure. Where an oral thesis examination is required, information regarding the process is described in the HDR assessment procedure and schedule B: oral thesis examination. Guidelines are also available which provide information around the conduct of an oral thesis examination and outline the roles of the participants.

The final outcome of each examinations is determined by the Thesis Examination Committee (TEC), not the examiners. When all the examiners' reports have been received (plus the panel recommendation in the case of an oral) the Head of School will consider all reports and, following consultation with the principal/executive supervisor, make a recommendation on the outcome of the examination to the TEC. The decision on the final recommendation and how to respond to the examiners’ reports is made by the TEC. The thesis must have the support of at least two examiners before the TEC can recommend that the degree be awarded.

The TEC, on the basis of the examiners’ reports, may require that corrections and amendments be made to the thesis before it is accepted (Recommendations 2.1 and 2.2). These may be minor, such as the correction of typographical errors (2.1), or they may involve significant revision of the thesis (2.2). If you are required to revise the thesis you should consult with your principal supervisor and the Head of School about making the revisions. You will have 8 weeks to submit your minor amendments and library copy into the online examinations system. Further details regarding the preparation of your amended thesis and the final library copy of your thesis are available below.

Major amendments involve a re-examination by external examiners (Recommendation 3). As far as practicable, any re-examination will be by the original examiners. If any of them are not available, one or more new examiners may need to be appointed so that the University can be sure of receiving sufficient reports to determine an outcome. The examiners will be sent the revised version of the thesis and your statement on how you have responded to the examiner’s comments. If you receive recommendation 3 you will be re-enrolled part-time and given 12 months to resubmit your thesis.

After the examination

The HDR Adviser will release the final result through HDR Examinations after the outcome has been determined by the TEC. You will receive an email notification through HDR Examinations and will be able to login and view the examiners' reports. At the completion of the examination process, you will be given the names of the examiners unless an examiner has asked that his or her name be kept confidential. You must then prepare and submit both your amended thesis (if amendments are required) and the library copy of your thesis in the format described below.

Submitting your amended thesis for approval

Minor amendments always need to be made to the satisfaction of the Head of School or their nominee. In order for the Head of School to approve your amendments, they must be provided with 1) a completed Response to Examiners form, and 2) a version of your amended thesis which includes tracked changes such that the amendments to be evaluated are clearly visible. As there is only space to upload your Response to Examiners Reports into HDR Examinations, the Response form must be combined with the tracked-changes version of your thesis and uploaded as a single document.

At the same time, you will be required to upload a clean copy of your thesis (no tracked changes or comments present) which will serve as the Library Copy.  Your principal supervisor and the Head of School will review the thesis revisions as submitted into HDR Examinations and, if they are approved, the clean copy will immediately be forwarded to the Examinations team for approval. For your Library Copy to be approved by the HDR Adviser, it must meet the requirements outlined below.